The Richmond Halloween Parade is a time-honored Richmond tradition. Last night marked the 18th annual celebration and march! The event is hosted and produced by the All Saints Theater Company and the 2023 theme was none other than: Funeral March for Time.
The theme was inspired by a friend of the All The Saints Theater Company, Jonas Fricke, who unexpectedly died earlier this year. According to this year's corresponding Facebook event, Funeral March for Time means that the concept of time was invented to create order for The Rich, “just like gender and race”. But last night, we took back our time and marched collectively in the streets of Richmond, OUR city, in protest of the weaponization of time and in celebration of the freedom of infinity.
With Jonas in mind and joy in our hearts, hundreds of Richmonders marched, cheered, danced, and celebrated together for hours as we made our way from Monroe Park through the streets of Oregon Hill. As always, the parade ends in Robert Pleasants Park, on the corner of Albemarle Street and South Laurel Street.
Now, Pleasants Park is where the real fun starts. There’s live music, circling dancers, puppeteers, photographers, pets, a few vendors, and so SO many costumes. People were dressed as any and every thing. We saw Michael Myers, Spider-man, Dinosaur Spider-man, Velma, A Plague Doctor, The Pope, football players, baseball players, A Whoopee Cushion, mummies, Baby Shark, Rocky Balboa, Spongebob, Squidward, The Teen Titans, The Addams Family, and so many more. In line with the theme, the festivities were endless.
Anyway, we know it’s technically November now, but we couldn’t let the day pass without raving about how powerful and special it was to just be able to hang out in the streets of our city, with our community, where nothing else mattered except being celebrating together.
There’s no place like Richmond.
So, here’s to finding the Halloween Magic again next year!
—---
In A Real Way,
Already Richmond Team